my best bull to date!!

[killerbee]

it's been a busy / stressfull weekend. but in the end it's been awsome!

SO --- friday night i went out for the evening hunt and spotted a pretty decent buck, out of range but i wanted to come back the next morning.
so bright and early saturday morning i get there and just find a nice place to sit untill it gets light and glass for the buck, 15 minuts go by and i look over to see 2 cows walking right towards me, i was suprized as i didn't think the elk would be around this early. well walking 40 yrds behind those 2 cows was a really nice bull! 100 yrds away, i new right away he was at least a 6x7 maybe a 7x7.

it is amazing on how luck can go your way or against you to chance the entire hunt!
the cows came out and turned when they were 100 yrds away, it's way to open and if that bull followed them i probably would have been done. but for some reason he came my way. I snuck 20 yrds closer behind a tree drew my bow and stepped out beside the tree. i sent my arrow on it's way and heard the impact. i threw up my bino's and seen he was pumping blood out instantly, but although good elevation, it was a little far back. by no means was i into the guts, but just farther back then i would prefer.

i called my wife and told her i just hit a really nice bull that i thought would be around 320".

i waited untill 7:30(45minuts) and started tracking slowly. easy to follow blood and tracks, the bull only went 80yrds and bedded down. well when i was 40 yrds from him he got up, no shot for me whatsoever, but he didn't run he just slowly walked off. i knew he was hurt bad and didn't want to push him so i went home.
by now i figured out i had hit liver, dark blood and a very sick bull. i called in some backup!
my father in law,JEFF W.and a hunting buddy, MATT K., gladly came to help. we decided to give him 4 hrs and go out again.
this time the bull only went another 100 yrds , but the wind was horrible and we watched him get back up and walk away . it sucked but again, we backed out and decided to wait untill morning.

it's hard to decide when to go track. on one hand if he dies early, the meat would be spoiled by the next morning, but if he doesn't die fast, the last thing i want to do is push him out of his bed.

the next morning we started at first light. i had convinced myself he would be 150 yrds farther and dead in his bed----NOPE!
i'll say first(now that it is all over) it was one of the best tracking job a couple guys put together that i've seen/ been part of. the bull went 1/2 mile UPHILL. if you have never tracked blood in the sand let me tell you, 24 hrs later it doesn't even look like blood. well to cut it a little short, we lost that bulls tracks 10 times , but at some point one of us 3 would find the track.
to me the turning point was when we had completly lost the track, we were going to go all the way back down the mountain and start over, when my Father-in-law-jeff, spotted a set of elk tracks, still we didn't know if it was him, these drops of moisture (later blood) didn't look like blood, the track looked smaller. but then, the real break we needed, my buddy MATT found a place where a stick had poked the bull in the side, and was DEFFINATE BLOOD( red like you'd expect) and elk hair. 100yrds later i look up and my bull stands up! he's not wanting to move but he's still frisky enough to get up!

i draw my bow and walk around the juniper and let it fly. the bull ran 30 yrds and started rolling! 27 hrs after my original shot we had my bull!
THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE HELP!!!
pretty amazing couple days of events, first i wasn't even intending to be elk hunting, then a great tracking job, then a bull that i'm on cloud 9 for!

when gutting the bull we found that i had hit 1 lung and top of the liver. elk are very tough animals, he must have been slightly quartering to me. both the entrance and exit were in the ribs, but the exit was just inside the last rib. i still cant believe how long that bull made it.

i know he isn't a monster for a utah L.E. hunt, but for an Oregon, general season OTC tag, he is WAY above average.

i will add some in the field pictures as soon as i get them from my email and resize them, but here is a start

[Buckmaster]

KB
I have that Utah LE tag and I would jump at the chance at a bull like that!!
What a great story, and very commendable on your efforts on retrieving your bull.

Make sure to share your taxi work…

[182BC...4Now!]

Sounds like an exciting hunt and congrats on the great bull! Not only did you get your best bull, but you have a great story to go along with it. Did you ever put a tape on him to see what he actually scored? I know you mentioned you thought 320, but wasn't sure if you taped him out afterward or not. Congrats again!

[Envious of the West]

CONGRATULATIONS!! Great Strory!!

[firefighterbraun]

Congrats on a great bull! Way to stick with it and recover that bull. Can't believe that he was still kicking when you went out the next day! I still don't understand how they can keep moving after getting shot. Somebody shoots me, you better believe I'm not moving and throwing in the towel!

[Hiker]

Beautiful bull KB. Great job and thanks for the story.

[camodup]

Congrats man! That bull is sweet for sure!

[AGCHAWK]

Great bull my friend!!!! I super excited to see ya tagging out on such a great animal!! AWESOME

[TheGreatwhitehunter]

Brian thats a GREAT BULL CONGRATULATIONS my friend, now you have killed the biggest bull in Orgeon that lived in a non-Limited entry unit what are you going to do next year


Seriously man awesome job that bull is great.

[sneekeepete]

Awesome Awesome Awesome!!! Killer congrats on a sweet bull Thanks for sharing the pics and story. I can't wait to see more!